Jasikevicius: 'Higgins will have to choose between surgery or conservative treatment' / News - Basketnews.com

Credit: REUTERS - Scanpix Credit REUTERS - Scanpix

FC Barcelona (19-5) ended the double-week with an easy home win against Panathinaikos OPAP Athens (5-17). The Blaugranas could make rotations. Next week they will visit Madrid in another edition of The Clasico.

Player of the Game EFF 17 Nigel Hayes-Davis Points 14 Accuracy 4-7 Rebounds 3 Assists 1

Sarunas Jasikevicius highlighted the importance of the game in the press conference.

"It was a really good game. We needed it. It was our fourth game in seven days. We lacked some power. Some players needed to play well. They led the rhythm and gained confidence," began the 45-year-old coach.

The Lithuanian head coach praised the performance of Dante Exum and Nigel Hayes-Davis. The Australian guard scored 12 points, while the former Zalgiris Kaunas player ended with 14.

"We have to be proud of some performances. Nigel and Dante are playing better; Sergi (Martinez) has been solid today. They played more minutes because it's important to give confidence to these players."

Cory Higgins was sidelined due to plantar fasciitis. He will need to decide what to do in the upcoming days.

"Cory is looking for different options. Let's see what happens. He will have to choose between conservative treatment or surgery", revealed Jasikevicius.

Asked about Panathinaikos' season so far, Jasikevicius showed his disappointment.

"It's a bit sad and hard to see them in this situation. Nick and I love this club too much. Since Obradovic left the club, they made a step back, and when Pascual was fired, they made another one", he concluded.

On the other hand, Dimitris Priftis could not hide his sadness after another loss.

"We played really bad in the second quarter. We hurt ourselves. We want to battle every single Euroleague game, not like today. We could not stop them. We had some absences, so it was not easy to prepare for the game. We need to keep working", he said.

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